Norway Oil Strike Continues, Hurting Production

OSLO, Norway (AP) —Norway's oil industry association says that the country's daily crude output will fall 10 percent as a result of two offshore rigs closing due to a strike.

Some 700 oil industry workers at four North Sea fields went on strike Sunday after their demands for keeping full early retirement benefits were rejected by oil companies, including British Petroleum.

Norwegian Oil Industry Association spokeswoman Eli Ane Nedreskar said Tuesday the Heidrun field closed on Sunday and the Oseberg field would close by this weekend. Both are operated by Statoil.

Nedreskar says the strike was costing 150 million kroner ($25 million) daily and that Norway's naturalgasproduction would also fall 6-7 percent. She says negotiations are at an impasse and that the strike would likely last at least until Friday.